Electronic cigarettes burn into mainstream

Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, are one of the more recent products to burn into Americans’ mainstream gadgets.

E-cigarettes, along with e-cigars and e-pipes, offer a tobacco free option to regular cigarettes. Instead of using a lighter to light a cigarette, e-cigarettes are battery operated. When one puffs on an e-cigarette, a nicotine vapor is heated. An individual inhales the nicotine and exhales the vapor.

Junior Heather Sandvik said, “No one should be smoking in the first place, there are no benefits to it.”

However, electronic cigarettes are sometimes thought to have benefits when compared to regular cigarettes.

E-cigarettes eliminate second-hand smoke, which is thought to be a contributor to lung cancer in non-smokers. The lack of second-hand smoke allows e-cigarettes to be used almost everywhere.

E-cigarettes are also thought to be beneficial to people who are trying to quit smoking. It still offers a nicotine fix as well as the habitual action of smoking, but there is no tobacco or tar that can infiltrate into the lungs.

With that said, the FDA is still not entirely behind the idea of e-cigarettes. The FDA believes that there have not been enough tests and trials to see how safe it is to actually inhale nicotine vapor. There is a possibility that it can have negative effects to an individual’s health.

Doctor Sharon Ryan said that some of her patients started smoking e-cigarettes as a way to quit smoking. However, some patients never quit smoking the e-cigarettes either. What was supposed to be a transition period becomes an actual lifestyle.

“I believe the best way to quit smoking is to go cold turkey, if not, I would recommend patches, like NicoDerm,” said Ryan.

Anyone can buy an e-cigarette online. Since it is tobacco-free, tobacco laws and regulations do not apply. This means that a consumer does not have to be 18 in order to purchase the product.

This, along with the fact that e-cigarettes can come in different flavors like chocolate and strawberry, has some people afraid that it will lead to children getting hooked on nicotine.

E-cigarettes are expensive, so an individual does not just use them once like one would do with an actual cigarette. Instead, e-cigarette users can buy replacement nicotine cartridges. Different cartridges vary in the amount of nicotine, so the smoker can decide how much of a fix he or she wants.

The controversial gadget has had the health world into a frenzy, as debates continue as to whether e-cigarettes are actually better than regular cigarettes.